Nowadays, almost all of our devices are connected to the internet and each other - we are living in the age of Internet of Things (or IoT). IoT applications demand sensors and gadgets that can deal with a huge volume of data and has a powerful battery.

Most IoT devices use battery power which means, that we will need a lot more power in the future!

Low Power Designs

Energy efficiency has its benefits: fewer manufacturing resources, less money invested in and in the end, more affordable products. Besides, saving energy helps to save the environment.

The power-saving methods that are designed in at the chip level effect the end product. This is especially true with regard to the microcontrollers (MCUs) that serve as the intelligent engines behind a majority of today’s electronic devices.

Despite solutions like energy harvesting, the number one challenge when designing an IoT product today is still saving power. Learn more about IoT and its challenges.

Energy harvesting is a method when a device can convert any change in its state (like heat or light change) into energy.

Power management

Power management itself is not limited to the hardware part, however, reducing power consumption should be started at the component level. Another key thing to remember is that most microcontrollers (MCUs) work as the "brain" of a device.

An MCU is a miniaturized, complex system which operates and consumes power in two modes: active and standby (often referred as sleep). The switch from the sleep to the active mode called wake-up and it is important to consider its consumption as well when looking for a low-power MCU.